Bernard Schoenburg: State electors to gather in Senate chamber for real presidential vote

Bernard Schoenburg

Monday

Nov 24, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 24, 2008 at 8:30 PM

The real Illinois election for president — the one where the electors cast the ballots that actually will help put president-elect Barack Obama in the White House — will happen in a special place this year.

The real Illinois election for president — the one where the electors cast the ballots that actually will help put president-elect Barack Obama in the White House — will happen in a special place this year.

Illinois members of the Electoral College will convene Dec. 15 in the Illinois Senate chamber at the Statehouse, according to Dave Druker, spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White.

“We thought with Obama having served in the Senate, that would be a very appropriate place to hold it,” Druker said.

The past two times that White, as secretary of state, has overseen arrangements for electors from Illinois to cast their ballots — in 2000 for Al Gore and in 2004 for John Kerry — the action took place in Room 212 of the Statehouse. That’s an ornate former Illinois Supreme Court chamber now used as a Senate hearing room.

The Senate chamber itself, however, seats more people and is suitably ornate as well. And the electors this time will be casting their ballots for a former Illinois state senator who will actually become president — unlike the last two elections, when Republican President George W. Bush won nationwide despite Illinois going for his Democratic opponents.

The names of 21 people chosen to be electors from Illinois — one for each congressional district and one for each of the state’s U.S. Senate seats — were put forth at a state Democratic Party convention in August.

It’s a repeat performance in that role for Shirley McCombs, 71, of Petersburg. She thinks this will be her fifth time as an elector. She also cast ballots in 1992 and 1996 to help send Democrat Bill Clinton to Washington.

McCombs was a supporter of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for president in the primary season. But as a committed Democrat — she’s secretary of the Democratic State Central Committee, a group to which she has been repeatedly elected from the 18th Congressional District — she’s backed Obama, too.

“Both of them were exceptionally good candidates, and I’m proud of both of them,” McCombs said. “I think anybody would be proud to be a part of this.”

Among the other people chosen by Democrats to be presidential electors are Shirley Madigan, wife of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who also chairs the state Democratic Party; Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago; Mary Boland, wife of state Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, and a member of the state central committee from the 17th Congressional District; and Don Johnston of Moline, the other member of the state central committee from the 17th.

A warm welcome back

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville, knows how lucky he is after suffering a stroke in mid-October.

He hopes his experience can help others.

Watson, 63, who has been leader of Senate Republicans since 2003, got a warm reception from his colleagues in the Senate on Thursday. Senate President Emil Jones Jr., D-Chicago, made a point to welcome him back, leading to a nice ovation.

Watson had let fellow GOP senators know on Election Day that, while he works toward a full recovery, he would not be seeking another term as leader of his caucus. He made it to Springfield Wednesday night for the caucus meeting in which the next leader — Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont — was chosen.

“She’s going to be an outstanding leader, and I’ll do everything I can to help her,” Watson told reporters Thursday. He noted that Radogno has been his top lieutenant as deputy minority leader.

Watson is walking and talking well and can move both hands.

When the stroke came upon him, he had some right-side paralysis and slurred speech. He credited great therapy, which he is still getting, with helping him come a long way already.

Watson has a family history of similar problems. His late father had a stroke when he was Watson’s age and spent the last 13 years of his life in a wheelchair. Watson lamented how hard his late mother had to work to take care of his father in those years. His mother also had strokes, he said.

Emotion can come easily to some stroke victims, and Watson cried when discussing things that went through his mind. He told reporters he thought of his dad and also of former state Sen. John Maitland, R-Bloomington, a respected legislator who left the Senate in 2002 following a stroke that left him in a wheelchair and unable to speak.

Watson said he’s been a nonsmoker, had low cholesterol and low blood pressure, and took a baby aspirin every day for 15 years. He said his precautions may have prevented a more severe outcome.

He said he hopes people will use his experience as a wake-up call to “take care of themselves, and have their blood pressure taken, and to have the right diet, and it doesn’t hurt to take a baby aspirin every day.”

Asked if he’ll finish his current term in the Senate, Watson said his attitude is that he will see how far therapy takes him.

In a famous show of passion for his work, Watson, near the end of the spring session of 2003, threw a 275-page bill in the air, showering colleagues with paper and later expressing the embarrassment people should feel with the budget process.

Sounds like he was onto something.

Watson is clearly putting that kind of passion into getting better, and I know I speak for many in wishing him a quick and full recovery.

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

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